Itinerary
Day 1: Kigali - Huye - Nyungwe ForestNational Park
Stop At: Ethnographic Museum Rwanda, Rn1, Huye Rwanda
Huye also known as Butare is a quiet university town that most visitors only drive through to get to Nyungwe National Park. However, in doing so, they miss out on one of Rwanda’s most important historical sites, the National Mu-seum. Rwanda is a country with deeply-embedded cultures and traditions and a rich history. A trip to the National Museum in Butare will bring you one step closer to understanding the people of Rwanda.
While many of Rwanda’s tourist attractions focus on raising awareness of the 1994 genocide, the Museum takes visitors further back into pre-colonial times, to help them better understand the development of Rwanda as a modern African state. The Museum has seven main exhibitions. The first takes you through the basic geography of the country, including climate, vegetation and wildlife. From there, you will learn about different food sources, such as beekeeping, fishing, gathering, hunting and trapping, and various types of habitation. You will also discover different types of handicrafts, including pottery, wood carving, and weaving, as well as learn more about the traditional costume and jewelry of Rwanda. The final exhi-bition takes you on a detailed tour through prehistoric Rwanda, and will allow you to see first-hand many of the artifacts and metal works used at the time. By the end of your visit, you will have a better understanding of the Rwandan people, their culture, their history, and their current state of development. No trip to Rwanda can be considered complete without a visit to this national treasure.
Duration: 2 hours
Stop At: Nyungwe National Park, Butare Rwanda
The Canopy Walk Way - Visitors to Nyungwe National Park can experience the rainforest from a different perspective. Hanging 60
meters above the forest floor between giant trees and towers, East Africa's only Canopy Walkway provides a stunning view of the park's amazing wildlife and nature. The Walkway is accessible as part of a specialized guided tour along the Igishigishigi trail or if you're not part of a tour, hiking the Imbaraga or Umuyove trails.
The Canopy Walk is currently the most frequented activity in Nyungwe. The dizzying platform is above a steep and deep valley across a massive forest.
The hanging platform offers an aerial view of the forest that allows tourists to view different animal species in Nyungwe forest spread over hundreds of square meters. The Canopy walk also offers tourists a rare "eye-to-eye level" with 13 different primates and many bird species, all of which are fond of inhabiting the upper strata of the forest.
Nyungwe offers visitors a vast array of choices in terms of trails, difficulties and wildlife sightings. The park is brimming with travel potential rise in popularity without the crazy crowds and tourist traps.
Duration: 3 hours
Meals included:
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Over night at Gisakura Guest House, budget hotel
Day 2: Nyungwe N.P - Kings Palace in Nyanza - Kigali
Stop At: Nyungwe National Park, Butare Rwanda
Chimpanzee Tracking - Nyungwe National Park is home to thirteen different species of primates, one of the most sought after of which is the chimpanzee. Although there may be just 500 chimpanzees in this park, most of what the world knows of these primates has come from research conducted in East Africa, and tourists from around the world come to Nyungwe to try to catch a glimpse.
Let a trained guide take you through the flourishing rainforest as you track down these nimble mammals. Chimpanzee tracking is not an easy feat since the terrain and vast bushes make spotting them difficult. They also live in communities of up to one hundred individuals, the composition of which is constantly changing.
However, the chimpanzees at Nyungwe are becoming increasingly habituated and tourists now have a 80% chance of seeing them. In fact, you will hear them before you ever see them. As their calls get increasingly loud, you will feel the excitement of knowing you are hot on their trail.
Be one of the few to spot these primates in their natural habitat. Seize the rare opportunity to watch them feed, play, and swing through the branches of the bush canopy as they go about their daily lives. After spending the half-day it takes to track chimpanzees, you will come to understand what it was that kept the world famous primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall, fascinated by and studying them for over 45 years.
Duration: 5 hours
Stop At: The Palace of King Mutara III Rudahigwa, Rukari, Nyanza Rwanda
Before the Europeans arrived in Rwanda, the region was organized as a centralized state under the rule of a monarch. Although the royal court was traditionally mobile, it soon came to settle in Nyanza, a town just 90km west of Kigali, near the intellectual capital of Butare. It was in fact in Nyanza that the first Euro-pean met with the reigning Rwandan Mwami (King) Musinga.
A visit to Nyanza today will reveal a well-restored royal palace that now serves as a national museum. The palace is in the form of an enormous grass-laden dome that has been painstakingly rebuilt to 75% the size of the original. A guided tour through the traditional palace will reveal to you much about the ancient Rwandan kingdom and its legacy today. Of note is also the Mwami’s traditional bed, made of stretched animal skin.
A stone’s throw away from the reconstructed hut lays the more modern palace, which was constructed in 1932 for Mwami Rudahigwa Mutara III. It is situated on beautiful grounds and is surrounded by the ruins of other older palaces. Visit this royal town to learn more about Rwanda as a pre-colonial state and how its people lived. Having visited the nearby National Museum of Rwanda in Butare this visit will complete the experience.
Duration: 2 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
No accommodation included on this day.
